These guidelines for Legally Defensible Workplace Drug Testing have been prepared and updated by the European Workplace Drug Testing Society (EWDTS). The European Guidelines are designed to establish best practice procedures whilst allowing individual countries to operate within the requirements of national customs and legislation. The EWDTS recommends that all European laboratories that undertake legally defensible workplace drug testing should use these guidelines as a template for accreditation. These guidelines are relevant to laboratory-based testing only. These guidelines follow current best practices and are constantly under review.

Understanding the actual consumption of alcohol and tobacco in the population is important for forming public health policy. For this purpose, wastewater-based epidemiology has been applied as a complementary method to estimate the overall alcohol and tobacco consumption in different communities. However, the stability of their consumption biomarkers - ethyl sulfate, ethyl glucuronide, cotinine, and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine - in the sewer system has not yet been assessed. This study aimed to conduct such assessment using sewer reactors mimicking conditions of rising main, gravity sewer, and wastewater alone, over a 12-hour period. The results show that cotinine and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine are relatively stable under all sewer conditions while ethyl sulfate was only stable in wastewater alone and gradually degraded in rising main and gravity sewer conditions. Ethyl glucuronide quickly degraded in all reactors. These findings suggest that cotinine and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine are good biomarkers to estimate tobacco consumption; ethyl sulfate may be used as a biomarker to estimate alcohol consumption, but its in-sewer loss should be accounted for in the calculation of consumption estimates. Ethyl glucuronide, and probably most of glucuronide compounds, are not suitable biomarkers to be used in wastewater-based epidemiology due to their in-sewer instability.

Domaine :

Alcool / Alcohol ; Tabac / Tobacco

Refs biblio. :

49

Affiliation :

School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) is a worldwide problem. Several countries have adopted DUID legislations which prove their deterrent effect and impact on road safety. However, the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and prescription drugs is not known, as the applied roadside screening tests have not yet been adapted for these compounds. In this study, 558 blood samples obtained during roadside controls in Belgium (January to August 2015) after a positive Drugwipe 5S test and 199 oral fluid (OF) samples obtained from negatively screened test pads were analyzed. The NPS positivity rate was 7% in blood, while it reached 11% in OF. NPS detected were: diphenidine, ketamine, 4-fluoroamphetamine, 2-amino-indane, methoxetamine, alpha-PVP, methiopropamine, a mix of 5-MAPB/5-EAPB, TH-PVP, mephedrone, methedrone, 4-methylethylcathinone, 5-MeO-DALT, 4-Acetoxy-DiPT, AB Fubinaca, FUB-JWH018, JWH020, trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine, and ethylphenidate. Moreover, 17% of blood samples (and 5% of OF) contained an analgesic drug, 10% (0.5%) a benzodiazepine/hypnotic, 5% (2%) an antidepressant, 2% (3%) an antipsychotic, 2% an antiepileptic drug, and 1% methylphenidate. The presence of NPS in the young (and predominately male) DUID population is proven. Furthermore, a high level of poly-drug use including combinations of NPS, licit, and drugs of abuse was observed. Further research concerning the development of on-site NPS detection techniques should be established. Meanwhile, the effects of combined drug use on driving ability and the physical/psychological signs after NPS use should be performed to improve the on-site DUID detection of NPS by police officers, so they can engage in blood sampling for a general unknown screening.